The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for tracking an operation of a robot to the robot.
A conventional robot-operation teaching method, predominantly employed, is categorized into two methods. In one of the teaching methods, an operator to teach the robot its operation operates a remote operating device connected to a robot control unit to guide a robot along an operation route of the robot operation and to store the robot-guiding data into the robot control unit. In another method, a driven section of the robot is detached from a drive section for driving the driven section. The operator directly holds a wrist of the robot to guide the robot in accordance with its operation route, and then to store the robot-guiding data into the robot control unit. The former method has poor operability in guiding the robot in desired directions and needs a high degree as skill for effecting such a manual operation.
In the latter method, the operator, in guiding the robot for the robot guiding data storage, supports the dead weight of the robot and needs to apply a force exceeding the friction at the sliding portion or the rotating portion of the robot. In this respect, the operator is subjected to a superfluous and undesirable work load. Particularly in the robot using an electric-driven actuator, it is necessary to separate the driven section from the drive section. This makes the robot system complicated.